


Without Rest

by vaultboii



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 10:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16700344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaultboii/pseuds/vaultboii
Summary: “He’s been missing for two days. How does a Guardian go missing for two days?”“Well, usually no one sees them for a while,” Cayde sniped back.Ah, there was the infamous Zavala glare.





	Without Rest

**Author's Note:**

> commission request by https://dragoncartridge.tumblr.com/ ! contact me if interested in a commission too.

In the shadow of the Vanguard, Zavala paced.

Seven steps struck forward, and five lingered back; one ashen hand was curling involuntary, fingertips quivering. Behind the leader, orange biolights breathed a bored hum and the Vanguard Hunter mused as he flickered his knife between fingers. 

“Calm down,” he droned.

Zavala’s eyes caught bright and the Titan turned around sharply. “I cannot,” the leader nearly snarled -- the faint accent of Awoken kin grew clipped in his tone. “He’s been missing for two days. How does a Guardian go missing for two days?”

“Well, usually no one sees them for a while,” Cayde sniped back.

_ Ah, there was the infamous Zavala glare. _

“Okay. Bad joke. But he’s a la  _ gone _ .” The silver of his blade darted around his pinkie and soared up in the air for Cayde to catch between the knife edge between index and thumb. He let it wobble there unsteadily before tossing it in the air again. “He’ll show up eventually. Then we all can strangle him together. Cheers.”

“I would wish that,” Zavala said heavily and resumed his pacing. “But he has not sent notice of leave, and that is unlike him, the only organized Hunter.”

“Hey, now,” and he caught the blade and sheathed it in one motion. “I am organized. I even submitted all my paperwork last night.”

The room stuck in silence.

“Alright, maybe because half the paperwork of the Tower is ash, and I only had to submit one page,” he added. “Beside the point.”

“He’s  _ missing _ ,” Zavala snapped again, to put them back on point.

“And he will show. But, if you’re so intent on  _ panicking _ , I will find him.” Cayde snapped back. God, Baldy could be so  _ dramatic.  _ “ If I was him, I’d be at the bar drowning all my memories out for the next week.”

Zavala ignored all his comments except one. “You will find him?” The Titan turned around, eyes shining feverish. The stress of rebuilding must be strong, and guilt settled quietly in Cayde’s well,  _ metaphorical _ , stomach.

He said, “Well, yeah.”

( _ because i miss him too, you know) _

He said, quieter. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll find him, Baldy.”

As soon as the words slipped from his vocalizer, five years of stress seemed to lift off the Titan’s shoulders. “Thank you, Cayde,” the blue bald Awoken sighed with relief. “Be careful.”

“Mhm. So when’s my next break?”

* * *

 

Finding his Hunter was easy.

There were plenty of places to hide around the City, sure. Cayde knew all and then some, but he also knew a Hunter wouldn’t go creeping around corridors if they wanted to remain hidden. Nah, the best place to remain undetected was the  **Tower** . Great glorious bastard of a building to hide in, and probably the only one Cayde himself was guilty of lurking in when he was moping about.

Thing was about the Tower, twas’ tall, and the higher one went, the windier it became. Cayde remembered dares about the height, presented by Guardians stupid enough to climb the top. He was also proud to have remained the only idiot dumb enough to pull a handstand on the spine of the tower, right over the edge. Won him five rifles. Good times.

That was back then, though. Cayde looked down to the pavement far, _far_ below and pushed all thoughts of falling right to the itty-bitty back of his processor.

Christ, someone needed to teach his hunters to quit it with the heights.

But, as soon as the fear started to settle in was when Cayde spotted the glimpse of the passageway, inches below the spiralling peak. Quickly scrabbling up, he pushed the secret passage in and dove just before the wind kicked up.  _ Whew. Thanks, lucky pants #5. _

He stood. The abyss yawned before him. 

Yeah, too dark. He flexed biolights brightly and the room shone orange —it revealed only him, the darkness of his sins, and a Hunter scrambling upwards for his rifle. The view was a charming little room of emptiness. He’d give it a ⅗ for the dust. 

“Hello, honey I’m home \-- _don’t shoot, it’s me_!”

The rifle went off, but bullets shot upward and sprinkled the ceiling in pulsefire. His Hunter grunted -- then, with a rather exaggerated topple, he tipped forward. Cayde got there just in time to catch the poor Guardian before he cracked processor against the ground. 

“Hm,” he said and gently knelt down, as the Guardian struggled weakly in his arms to stay standing. “Not a good sign. Alright, simmer down sunshine. Sit.”

The Exo flopped onto his knees. Shyly -- beyond shy, really, he then inched away from Cayde as if disgusted. And here Cayde had thought he had put on rather nice-smelling oil cologne today.  _ Critics. _

“Do I smell?” He asked mock-offended and the engine of his fellow Exo spluttered, presumably flustered. Oh  _ yeah _ , baby, he still had that effect, score one for Cayde Six of Aces. Leaving his engines calm, he gestured and with that, his Guardian leaned in and nestled into his shoulder. Something rose in his chest -- warmth that felt too comforting. Man, he could sleep here with his Hunter for so  _ long… _

Nope. He was on a mission today. “Mhm. Okay. How long have you been up here? Two days?” He snapped servos in front of slowly offlining optics. The Exo blinked and nodded. Okay. That settled one thing. “Where’s your Ghost?”

One servo swayed up and pointed left. There, on a dusty table Cayde hadn’t noticed, laid the idle orb of Polaris, blue optic faint in the gloom. Absentmindedly, he let Sundance loose too, and the golden glimmer of her chassis drifted to the other. Both the tiny frames hummed, synchronized in harmony, and Cayde knew they were talking quietly in forgotten binary.

“What have you been doing up here?” He mumbled faintly to his Hunter, and found his hands were wrapped around the exo’s torso. Ah, well. They could stay there.

“Recharging,” Polaris sang out from behind them -- the Guardian murmured a noise of assent into his shoulder, a quiet note almost ashamed. “We have not had time to rest since... _ well _ , my Guardian thought it was best to steal a few moments of quiet, while they lasted.” A musical warble filled the air. “Having run so ragged, I thought Sir deserved a few days of rest.” 

A pause. “You may punish me if see fit,” Polaris added. “It was not Sir’s fault.”

Under his hands, the Guardian stiffened; it was not in fear or anxiety, but dread of future missions. One hand twitched at his side, and Cayde was reminded of Zavala and Ikora pacing around the Vanguard table, quivering in anxiety. And now here was the Exo who went without rest for Hell knows how long, borderline hyper-anxious because of guilt from Cayde’s sudden appearance.

_ I must be a flight or fight trigger _ , he thought solemnly.

“Punishment? Ah, slag no— I was wondering where my best Hunter vanished off to, that’s all,” he lied between dentae. “You went without a word— leaving drinking’ buddies alone! I was lonely, you dick.”

Polaris said nothing to the obvious lie— but in his hands, stiffness in the Guardian’s shoulders relaxed. The Exo adjusted and huffed quietly about drinking.

“No, I was not drinking  _ beer.  _ Scotch is better,” he snorted back. One of his hands traced up the side of the Hunters torso, and settled against the shoulder. 

God, he was growing sappy.

“You know, I just realized you don’t even have a pillow,” he chided. A faint snort came from the Exo laying against him. “No. Seriously. How are you supposed to sleep without a pillow? Use my lap for Christ’s sake before I report your behaviour as unprofessional Hunter ethics. There has to be a violation somewhere in Vanguard code for not using a pillow to sleep on.”

There was no complaint. A weight settled on his lap and then he felt the hum of biolights, the tired drone of his Hunter’s mechanics against his. It appeared to Cayde he wasn’t going to be moving for a long while. Hm. What a  _ shame, so sad,  _ it’d be too bad if he leaned back and fell asleep here too. Way too bad.

The Vanguard would not understand like Cayde would. Ikora and Zavala had this nasty habit of working themselves past exhaustion, and he knew they were ignorant to their actions affecting the Guardian so much. They all had pushed each other too hard after all, he recalled as he looked to the half-drowsy Exo falling asleep on his lap.

He would tell Zavala later about the Guardian. Maybe make some whole tale up about the Guardian defeating a cult, or a giant worm. Something ridiculous but the Guardian would agree and then Zavala would calm down. Yeah. That would work.

Listening to the hum of his Hunter on his lap, Cayde set his hand on the Exo’s head and traced lines, constellations.

And quietly, he thanked his lucky Aces for letting him have this.


End file.
